


To Be The Last Standing: Academy Years

by DarkestChasm



Category: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
Genre: Action, Circinius IV, Corbulo Academy of Military Science, F/F, F/M, Forward Unto Dawn - Freeform, Friendship, Human-Covenant War, Humor, M/M, Medical, Romance, Unified Earth Government, United Nations Space Command, War, covenant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-01-02 12:12:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkestChasm/pseuds/DarkestChasm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corbulo Academy of Military Science. An academy people dreamed of going too. For Autumn Revere, everything is perfect, she hits off her years of training in the Medical field with outstanding scores and several close friends around her to accompany her along the way to success. However, the semester before Autumn is allowed to graduate and leave for apprenticeship on a nearby medical station, she told that she needs to have at least a semester in combat training and such to be able to go. So what better team to put her on then Hastati Squad?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Announcement

  **Chapter One: Announcement**

[March 4th, 2520 – 1142 Hours]

There was a familiar heavy pounding behind me as my eyes looked out to the blurring world. The air was stale, making it hard to breathe. My arms and legs felt heavy. I just wanted to lie down and sleep, let the familiar pounding take me, and just let me rest. But my body didn't listen to my mind, so my legs kept moving. My breath kept coming out in ragged pants.

The pounding continued.

I don't know why the feeling of fear and anger and hopelessness were there, and so the feelings confused me. I didn't know where I was until my cloudy eyes started to see again as the welled up tears finally fell down my face.

The pounding continued.

What I looked out at made my body stop and the breath no longer enter my system. Chaos. The buildings around me were ruined. Marred and disfigured bodies lay, unmoving, on the pavement. Random fires were burning, some on the street, some on dead bodies, and some in the ruined buildings. I didn't notice-

"Autumn!"

I sat up with a terrified gasp.

Around me were the gleeful faces of my family, all showered, decorated, and pretty. I felt my terror turn into confusion. What were they doing in my room?

"Happy Birthday," They all cried together, smiling widely.

Oh.

Not sure how my voice would work, but not really caring, I gave them all a look and dramatically made a face. I stuffed my face back into my uber soft pillow. "No! I don't want to celebrate, I wanna sleeeep!" I made my voice sound cranky so that they knew I was joking with them and that I didn't mind. The thought was sweet, but I had gotten home late last night due to the idiocy of Jannie, my not-so-brilliant best friend. She had heard a rumor that someone had said they were going to beat up her little sister, and that had not been taken lightly.

So she had dragged me off to go find the starter of this so called rumor, and we'd stayed up late doing so, only to realize that it had been started by her sister so that she could get some free time.

Jannie had been pissed, yes, but I had calmed her down and by the time I left her house and came home, it had been very, very late. So now, after only getting a handful of hours of sleep, I felt no joy in being woken up for such an unimportant day. But then again, it was still a sweet thought. “And it’s only the thought that matters,” I thought, looking at what I guessed was a cake in my uncle’s arms.

My family let out a kind chuckle at my reaction, especially when my mother laid my brother down next to me and I had to sit up. My two year old brother tilted his head and I giggled, hands ghosting over his sides to get a reaction out of him. He giggled back, deciding to pick up a tangled piece of my dark red hair and tug to try and make me stop assaulting his sides with my skilled fingers.

"Na! Naaaa!! Nal-na!" He protested in his adorable voice, trying to say 'no'.

Feeling energy bubble up by Tyler's adorable laughter, I picked him up and set him on my lap, looking at my family's expectant gaze, knowing they had probably made me a big breakfast or something and were waiting for me to give the go ahead. Everyone looked so happy, and so I couldn't help but smile too, until I looked back down at Tyler and saw him fiddling with my pillowcase. “If he jars that too much…” I thought, thinking of the secret enrollment papers hidden in the fabric, ready to come out in a moments notice.

I stopped him from opening it, my smile faltered, I still had yet to tell my family about the program I was enrolled in, and the date was quickly approaching, so I didn't want them to find out from my brother just pulling a string. In a month I would be shipped off to Circinius IV... I wonder how they will react to that. Hopefully better than I expected them to.

I would be going with Jannie, of course, but that would still mean leaving. I guess now was the best time, seeing as they can't kill me while it was my birthday. “But,” I thought, starting to get out of bed as my family told me to follow them, “maybe after lunch.” I really didn't want to spoil my family's plans for me, and have it end up a disaster like Jannie's revealing did. Her parents, while not liking the Innies, didn't like the UNSC, either. They wanted their daughter to be an actress or a lawyer, someone who makes a bunch of money, not some 'buffed up monkey who kills people for no reason.' Jannie's relationship with her family had been rocky since, and while Jannie didn't care much for her family anymore, I knew that if something like that were to happen, it would crush me.

My mother circled around my bed and picked up my brother, who had crawled away from her. “Come on, now, I’m sure you’ll love your present.” She was giving me her puppy eyes and I remember once upon a time hating her childish then serious act, but now, I could help but savor the time spent with my family. Though, I couldn't help notice the absence of fire behind her soft eyes, and the slightly sad echo in her voice. I pushed the thought to the side, she was probably just tired. Tyler could be a handful when he wanted to be.

I nodded, making my dark hair bobbing along with me. “Alright, lead the way,” I told her with a smile.

I slid out of my bed, swaying a bit, but not letting that stop me as I walked myself over to my dresser, swiping a hair tie, and putting my waist long hair up in a bun. I followed my mother silently, making faces at my brother just to be with his comforting giggle. The more I thought of it, the crueler leaving sounded.

My father had been in the UNSC Medical Corp, so I only found it natural to take his death is a good way and use the medical genes he gave me to their full potential. I had no desire for a common-folk life anyway. But leaving my family that had already lost so much did make me feel like a horrible person, even if all I was doing was going away for a couple years, I would still be able to chat with them, and I could still send them things like letters and packages.

I sighed, feeling my face frown again as my mother led me into the kitchen, would leaving really be the right thing to do?

My mother’s soft voice beckoned me to sit down and put on the dark purple blindfold, so I did. I made sure I didn’t catch the eyes of my family, knowing they would be as naïve as to pass my attitude to being cranky and trying to hide it. “Okay, now, I want you to give me your hand.” I did so. My mother’s hand was clammy, as if she was nervous. A polar opposite to what her soothing voice gave off. She opened my hand and placed within my palm something cool and sleek – a pen?

My mother sniffed and cleared her throat. That action alone had my head whirring to try and find out why she could have been sniffing. My mind jumped to her finding out, but that didn't make sense, why talk about it now, when, if she had known, all she had to do was reject the paper. Maybe that's what this was about, she found out and was rejecting the papers.

“You can take the blindfold off, now.” I did so, gently placing the blindfold on the table after undoing the knot.

Looking down instantly at what had been placed in my hand, I tilted my head as I stared at the key in my hand. It was long and sleek, cool to the touch.

I looked up at my mother quizzically. I watched her suck in a deep breath and sit down. My eyes left her to gaze at the now somber gazes of my family, only for my aunt-by-law say in her rich voice, “We’ll leave you alone, I think it will be better for her if it was just you two.”

My mother met her eyes and nodded, “Yes, thank you.”

With another nod, my uncle, my aunt, my baby brother, and my grandma left, leaving me wondering what was going on. The look on my mother’s face was one so sad and helpless, that all I could do is look away, to terrified to speak. Had she found my papers?! My body was tense with worry. What else would make my mother look that way? Guilt riddled me, I should have told her. I could only imagine what her face looked like when she first found out.

I watched in the corner of my eye my mother wipe a stray tear from her cheek and let out a long, sad sigh. “Ivey, I have a lot of things to tell you.” She paused, waiting until I looked at her. Moving my eyes from the table, I looked into hers. “Today you are sixteen years old. At this age, I believe I should tell you about your father... about his legacy... about what he did.

“You were seven when he was KIA, what do you remember of him? I’ll fill in holes for you.” My mother’s seriousness over this topic hit me full force. When I came down those steps, what I expected to get was a loving breakfast, and instead I was getting questioned on what I knew of my dad, my real dad. It was like a punch in the gut, the air had left my body and I felt sick.

I swallowed a lump in my throat, hands mindlessly playing with my the metal key, silently wondering what it went to. I cleared my throat, but it did nothing. I never did like talking about dad, none of us did, so having to all of a sudden talk about him made me choked up.

I decided that the pause was long enough, and my mother was starting to look uncomfortable with the pause, so I spoke up. “Uh, I remember he had really, really, bright red hair,” I twirled my long red hair on the key as I spoke. “He had a nice laugh, and a good smile.” I wrinkled my nose, “he was never… home…

“Always busy coming up with new ways to fight the insurrectionists, new ways to heal 'the good guys.'”

My mother nodded, edging me to go on.

“Uh, I think he was… Well… I know he was a doctor of some sort, I don’t know what rank or whatever, though. I do know, though, that he was verygood at what he did…” I don’t know why, but the more I thought about my father, the more I thought about the way he had died. A memory of him smiling at me from across a computer screen burned my mind. Talk about bittersweet. “From what we were told, the insurrectionists... tortured him and the squad he was with before they could get to safety...

“Mom, is there a reason you are just talking about this with me now?” I finally snapped, my heavy heart didn’t want to talk about my father anymore. He had been a great man who had done great things. Thinking about how he had died made me angry, and made the possibility of joining the UNSC all the more appealing.

“I’m not stupid, Ivey- Autumn, I know you are going to go to that academy.” She paused, an obvious sour look on her face. I never knew why she hated the Corbulo Academy of Military Science; I thought it would be perfect, to be with people who also have had their families KIA. I felt that I would be better understood, better than if I would be going to some military camp where they let anyone join. My mother controlled herself, “I… If you wanted to go to one, you should have told me. I would have signed you up for an academy at Reach- they have the best scores! And they're always so easy to communicate with. At Corbulo, you’ll be so far away…” My mother sighed and hung her head.

“I don’t want to lose another loved one from this damn war, Ivey…” My mother’s rant died down to a quiet sob.

We both knew there was no stopping me, the papers had been signed, and my ticket to Corbulo paid for and finalized with what would have been my college money. My mother’s shaking body made me feel like a horrible person, I wished she wouldn’t think of it as such a negative thing. I set the key, now forgotten, on the table and enveloped my mother in a tight hug, not wanting to hear her soft sobs. I ran my hand through her grayish brown hair, wanting the motion to calm her down.

She had cried so much over my father. And now, after she has been married for only two years with a son and a new husband, I guess I had just killed what she had thought would be the new beginning of a semi-perfect life. "I'm such a horrible person..." I thought, my mother's tears bleeding through my dull T-Shirt.

For moments on end, I held her, stroking her hair and trying to calm her down my whispering that it would be okay, dad would look over me, and that I’d be sure to COM in whenever I could. This seemed to calm her down enough to just sniffles when she finally croaked out, “A-and th  _- hick -_  the key…" She cleared her throat and sniffed. "It was to your father’s military safe. I never opened it. I wanted that special moment to be yours.” She sniffed and left my embrace to smile at me, her brown eyes dazzling with tears.

My eyes widened in shock. My father’s military key? But his locker was stationed on Reach, where he had trained. My mother chuckled at my expression and I looked back at the key, snatching it up. On it, the numbers 736 engraved neatly into the silver. I put a hand over my mouth to stop a sob. My heart swelled with pride, I had my father's key.

I looked at my mother with glossy eyes, vowing to never lose the key. “Thank you!” I sputtered out, tears leaving my eyes for the first time today. “I promise I won’t ever lose it, and when I get the chance, to find out what’s in his locker, I'll tell you. Then I’ll brag about it,” I joked, making my mother and I laugh, both probably looking like a mess. I studied the key a little more, running my thumb over the cool metal, loving the feel. The power that came with the key overwhelmed me and I could feel my hands shaking with joy. There was no stopping the smile that came to my face. 

My mother and I then looked at each other after a moment of silence, composing ourselves. “Now,” she patted my back with a dandy and relieved sigh, “how about we go wake Jim, I had planned for us to be out of the house by noon to take you shopping and have you home in time for bed, but if we don’t leave soon, you might stay out later than planned.”

I rolled my eyes at my mother, typical mother. Just a little after having such a sentimental moment she was already back to rules and betimes, even though I was sixteen. Sometimes, I think the serious act runs in her veins, but that would be weird, seeing as I seemed to be more crazy than serious. But right now, the sudden mood swing didn't bother me as I stood up with her.

“Nah, you can wake Jim up, I am going to go take a quick shower and get dressed. And seeing as we don’t have time for the mall, apparently, how about you take me to the Shut Ins, I hear they are playing the best Flip Music of the 26th century tonight.” I leaned into my mom, hoping the physical contact would make her cave in to my idea.

The mall honestly wasn’t the best place to be on a Sunday afternoon. Especially seeing as the clothes usually sold from the store were more fashionable than I really liked, and instead I felt more comfortable with the cheaper, less flashy, brands found in a regular store, not that mom would tolerate that. She believed that with proper dress, came the proper respect and proper understanding of who you are. I believed actions stood out more than words and price tags.

Pretty much saying, that if her daughter dressed in boring clothes, it meant I was boring, something my mother would never stand for. To her it was an issue, so, while I wasn’t really the flashy type, I was the easy going type. So I didn’t protest much when it came to what I preferred and what not.

Though, there were some cases, like going to Corbulo, which I knew I wouldn’t stand down on. I was going, and that was the end of it. I had made myself aware long ago, that this was my life, and while following orders seemed to be natural, I was also a human, and so I had a right to have an open mind. But that didn't mean being mean to my mother and going against her every word.

My mother eyed me and sighed, “I guess, because it is your birthday. Alright, but be quick with your shower and dress nice.”

Mentally cheering, I leaned up to kiss her cheek and smiled at her. “Thank you!” I squeezed the key in my hand, finding that it gave me an extra jolt of energy and a buzzing happiness.

This was absolutely the best day of my life. And with my father's key in my hand, I ran to my room to get ready for the rest of the day, a smile marking my face, something that I think would be staying on my face for the rest of the day.

 


	2. Departure

 

 

 

**Chapter Two: Departure**

[March 5th, 2520 - 1435 Hours]

I know I shouldn't have been as excited as I was, but I couldn't help it. My mother had let me go to a Flip music concert. Who wouldn't be happy? 

I had bragged all about it to Jannie, who had had to deal with her pestering family the whole day on Sunday. They had apparently been angry that Jannie could have fallen for such a trick, then went on to say that if she was this gullible she wouldn't last two seconds in the military. The comment had caused a huge fight. But I wasn't as surprised anymore, fights like that happened often now with Jannie and her parents. Jannie and I knew that her family was just scared and angry that she had signed up for it. Her father was an ex-solider and when he had learned about it he was furious, so mad he had hit Jannie for the first time in her life. 

It had been a horrible moment for them and Jannie had ran out of their house to mine where she stayed for the rest of the week. When Jannie's parents had come to get her at the end of the week, Jannie had cooled down and tried to approach the subject again. But it was a never ending cycle of uneasiness and anger mixed with a lot of fighting whenever Jannie tried to make them understand why she wanted to fight. Jannie's father, Scott, had felt horrible about hitting her, but the rage he had felt at finding out that Jannie had signed up for Corbulo behind his back was to much for him to control. 

He had warned her. He had missed half of her life due to the damn war. He whom had told himself that his family was safe and slept semi-peacefully at night would now never be able to sleep a wink again. His daughter was going out to war and there was nothing he could do about it. I felt really bad for him, though he had been a great fighter, he had been in a horrible accident that caused him to lose almost half of his body. It was a miracle he was saved and he was released as soon as he could walk away, hating the UNSC, as if it was their fault the accident happened. He never wanted to go to war again. Jannie had once told me that her father had night terrors sometimes and that his screams would wake up everyone. 

It was hard to imagine if anyone in her family would sleep knowing she was off training to be a solider. Would my family sleep, knowing I was facing the same dangers as Jannie?

I didn't let my thoughts bother me much as I walked down the busy hallway full of normal civilian students. It bothered me that they all seemed to ignore the war as if it was nothing, instead choosing to discus things like boyfriends and celebrity gossip. It made me sick to think that with all of the people risking their lives to make theirs better. 

Shaking my head with disappointment, I found Jannie's face in the crowd and made my way towards her. She looked happy to see me, slightly buzzing with excitement herself. "Just one more month. One more!" She squealed, using her free hand to clasp my should and squeeze gently. We were to leave on April 5th, missing the last week of our last year of high school. Not that Jannie or I cared, we looked forward to the trip to Corbulo, not minding that we would miss out on the last sophomore week traditions. 

"I know," I gushed with her, lifting my shoulder to place my cheek on her hand. My hands shifted to better carry my books and I smiled at her. 

Releasing each other, I turned around and followed Jannie to her locker. There were talked about what we were going to bring there, if either of us had got the boarding schedule, and just things centered around Corbulo. All just small things. We sounded a lot calmer than we really were, being able to read each other so well, I could see Jannie was excited with the way she bit her lip after she spoke. I knew I was excited, I could feel the happiness wash over my bones and make my legs bend slightly. I wanted to jump up and down and squeal, but the more rational part of me said the jumping in this short of a dress would be stupid and that I would flash everyone, so I didn't. 

Other than our families, no one else knew where we were going. Of course, the school knew and everyone who ran the program. But on a peer level no one knew that this would be the last month they would ever see me. And so when one of my guy friends smiled at me, I gave him a radiant smile back, as did Jannie. This left him confused and slightly blushing, but that only made Jannie and I giggle as we approached him. He was with our other guy friends, but we had no intention of telling anyone else other than our family. 

We didn't want disapproval or questions or the boys suddenly throwing random confessions out like they did when I said that I was leaving. I had used the word leaving and said "for a while" which had made the boys tense and start being weird. However, I was only leaving on vacation and I hadn't known when I was coming back. The responses I had gotten from the boys shocked Jannie and I enough to agree that telling them anything important was never a good idea.

"'Ello boys," I said, sliding up to them, my joy planting a never ending smile to be on my face. The boy closest to me, my little Camy-Gamy (Cameron), returned the smile and added a wink. He was still slightly blushing from my smile. This caused his best friend, Joey, to elbow him.

"She's mine, Gamy."

Camy-Gamy scoffed, "in your dreams, Joey. We know she's mine"

Joey wiggled his eyebrows, "no. No girl can resist my eyebrows." Joey turned to me and wiggled his eyebrows, "eyebrows," he murmured as he leaned close to my face. Jannie laughed and I did, too. 

I scrunched up my nose and cooed, "aw, the eyebrows are so cute. They wiggle like the worms on burning concrete." This caused the boys to laugh, too. The tone I was using must have amused them, because I saw in no way how that was funny. 

And as Jannie and I chuckled with the howling boys, I looked at each of their smiling faces and thought to myself, "I am so glad to be friends with you all. I promise to never forget you."

**x X x**

[April 5th, 2520 - 0600 Hours]

Dressed, ready, and car packed. Jannie and I stood outside, giving last minute farewells to our family. Today was departure day and while most kids were getting ready for their last week of school, Jannie and I were getting ready for the start of our new lives. Jannie had left her family on a good note, them having sucked it up for one day and accepted it. Their farewell had been heartbreaking to me. I hugged my grandmother tightly and she held me just as firm. We broke away and kissed each other's cheeks. There were tears in her eyes and she had a hard time letting me go. Even so, she gave me a final squeeze and smile, then let my mom have a turn. As soon as my mother was up she told me to pose and I did with Jannie, letting her take all the pictures she wanted. When she was done I was in her arms, her hand petting my hair and she was sniffing my hair. I smiled as I hugged her back, smelling her as well. When my mom pulled back she cupped my face with her hands and planted a big kiss to the middle of my forehead. When she pulled back she was sobbing. 

Next up was my Step-father. He was like a real father figure and when growing up I had very little of a father, the last two years with him had been a blessing. He was a great guy. He gave me a hug and kissed my head, "bye kiddo." He was the only one of my family able to talk as he wasn't sobbing. I hugged him back and smiled at him, wiping some tears off of my face. 

"Bye, Wyatt." Having known my dad, even if not for very long, I still felt weird calling Wyatt dad, so I just called him Wyatt. He didn't mind a bit. And after he rumpled my hair with his large hand he stepped back to let my brother tackle my legs. He was sobbing harder than my mother. 

I cooed at my brother and swiftly picked him up, cradling him in my arms and swinging him around softly, trying to make him stop crying. I petted his head and whispered in his ear that I would be fine and that nothing was wrong. Even so the boy sobbed hard and clutched onto my hair with the idea of never letting go. He made me chuckle, but after a couple of minutes he settled down and I handed him to mom with a kiss on his cheek goodbye. He started sobbing again and I knew that he would calm down later.

Glancing at the time I gave a round of final kisses on the cheeks and with a final wave and happy smile I was off, my last words being, "I love you guys so much, thank you for letting me go."

**x X x**

[April 5th, 2520 - 0900 Hours] 

After driving to the nearest train station Jannie and I had taken a two hour trip to the where we would be launching off from. The city was huge, but I didn't really care for it's name. The only thing I could focus on was my excitement and Jannie. Jannie looked ready to pass out. Asking her what was wrong she responded that it was just her nerves. Her father had belittled the UNSC and as much as Jannie hated to admit it, she was having second thoughts.

This caused me to laugh and punch her arm lightly. "Jannie, this is the best decision we have ever made." I grabbed her hand and interlocked fingers with her, staring into her worried eyes. "We can do this."

My pep talk worked and I watched the worry drain from her eyes. Jannie smiled and squeezed my hand back, nodding. "We can do this."

"Atta girl, I knew would come to your senses." I chuckled and swung our hands as we made our way from the train into the building where we would wait for our names to be called. Our luggage, along with everyone else's luggage that had the flight tag on it was taken from the back of the train and moved into the building to be moved again after a security check. Humming a happy tune as Jannie and I walked I felt so much at ease that it shocked me. I was signing myself away to war and was happy about it. 

I laughed at the idea and told Jannie my thoughts. She told me, "you are a weird one. I feel like my knees are going to collapse in on me and I want to run for the hills! Not only that but my breakfast wants to meet your shoes." She laughed again, squeezing my hand. "I wish I was as brave as you - God, I'm so nervous." 

I laughed at her and leaned my head on her shoulder. "Jane. My sweet Jannie." I smiled. "We're both nervous, but it's normal."

We finally entered the area for our flight and I took my head off of her shoulder and released her hand. We both sat down and sighed. Waking up so early in the morning sucked. But what really weighed me down was the fact that I didn't tell my boys that Jannie and I were leaving. Feeling a bit bad, I turned to the almost asleep Jannie and shook her shoulder. She sat up, "what? Is it 10 already?" She looked at her watch and glared at it. Then she turned her glare to me. 

"No, but while we can, should we send a text or something to the boys? I'm feeling icky, they would never do this and then not tell us." I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest.

Jannie rolled her eyes, "you know why we didn't tell them. But there can be no harm in sending them something now." She leaned back and thrust her hips up, her hand sliding back behind her to retrieve her phone. "Texting is lame, let's send them a video."

As if on cue we both smiled at each other. "You're bloody brilliant."

She tsked me and said she knew as she got her camera on her phone. "I know." She changed it from picture to camera and then held it out, getting both of us in the frame. Starting the video Jannie and I both waved. "Hey boys. Uh, sorry we didn't tell you, but we're leaving. For good." I smiled sheepishly at the camera.

"We didn't want to tell you because we were afraid of disapproval, and as low as that is, know that you guys take things out of proportions and we didn't want our time with you to be weird and unpleasant." Jannie said as she also smiled at the camera. 

"We love you boys," Jannie and I cooed, deciding to end our video there. I looked at Jannie as she sent them the message. "Do you think that if we meet them again that they will hate us?"

Jannie didn't look up, "no. If anything they'll kiss you until your lips are purple and then wiggle their eyebrows because you love eyebrows." Jannie giggled as she thought of it and I did, too. Finding the thought ridiculous. An older me with graying hair and Joey and my Camy-Gamy with beards and kids. It was crazy. 

I sighed, "I'm gonna miss them."

Jannie patted my hand, "I will, too." She checked her watch and as she did the lady on the intercom spoke clearly that our flight was boarding. 

Jannie and I gave each other nervous glances before smiling at each other and nodding. I let out a deep breath and stood with Jannie, mingling with the crowd of folk also boarding for Circinius IV. Jannie and I both looked like we were going to puke, probably. But when I took her hand I felt a sense of courage and squeezed her hand, hoping to bring courage to her, too. It got the desired effect and we walked with slightly more confidence all the way into the ship, stopping only for them to check our tickets then let us by.  Again I was so happy that a smile couldn't leave my face. 

"Jannie," I started, interlocking fingers with her again and leaning into the side of her body as we walked, "we're doing it. We're going to Circinius!"

Jannie agreed with the same delighted tone and we smiled brilliantly at each other both proud of the other one. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Please give me some feedback, I don't want to go on writing a story that doesn't make sense or has ridiculous errors. It would kill me to find out that errors and badly put sentences turned people off to my story, when those are such curable things.  
> Thanks for reading, author out.

**Author's Note:**

> If any spelling errors, please tell me. Thank you. :)  
> Comments are also welcomed!


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